Friday afternoon during a panel for thousands of fans and later
in the evening during a press conference, a series executive
producer and the Con panel host both seemed to do damage
control for the season six finale which ended on a mystery
cliffhanger killing off one of the series' main characters, but
which failed to show the victim of the brutal murder.

If you're worried the show is going to just play it safe and kill
off a character who seems disposable, don't count on it. It
sounds like "The Walking Dead" may kill off a huge character. Or
at least, that's how it was teased during the press conference by
executive producer David Alpert.

"If a character is killed off the show and it doesn't hurt
and it doesn't upset somebody, then honestly we weren't doing our
jobs making a show that people cared about, right?" Alpert
reassured a group of journalists Friday afternoon. "The
other aspect is that we have to make, we try to make that promise
that any death is not done for arbitrary reasons. There's no
reason why someone's killed off, just, 'Oh, we just need plot
[filler]. We try to take that seriously, but at the same time do
it in a way that fulfills the organic nature of the story."

Knowing that, you may imagine that out of the people Negan
rounded up, that the primary targets are
probably not Rick (he's the leader, and Negan
said he couldn't kill Rick or he'd be a martyr.) or Carl. Again,
Negan said he didn't want to kill him because of his
eyepatch.

Gene
Page/AMC

If we're looking at important main characters left on the show
that leaves us with Michonne (Danai Gurira), Maggie (Lauren
Cohan), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and Daryl (Norman Reedus) as top
contenders for Negan's bat of justice.

Those are deaths that would really hit fans hard. So
hopefully we won't get a death of someone like Sasha, Abraham, or
Aaron, otherwise it will feel like a letdown.

Alpert wasn't the only one who gave a little speech about the
controversial end of season six.

Panel host Chris Hardwick, who hosts an AMC aftershow for "The
Walking Dead," took a moment to drive home to the crowd how much
the cast and crew care about the fans. It was a bit weird and
felt like there was a tinge of desperation in it.

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for
AMC

"I know there was a lot of anticipation about this panel. I know
there was frustration at the end of season six. I hope, you know,
we did the best job we can," said Hardwick. "You guys really have
to understand, you really have to understand how much these
people care about you, how much they care about the fans, how
much they care about the show. No one's ever trying to mess with
you. Everyone's doing the best they can and I hope we see you at
the start of season seven."

We'll know for sure whether it was worth it when season seven
premieres October 23 on AMC.